HARTFORD -- The "Forlorn Soldier," battered and mutilated by the weather and vandals since its carving in the early years after the Civil War, took his final position Tuesday, coming home to the state Capitol.

In a welcoming ceremony linking the Civil War sesquicentennial with today's wounded warriors, the faceless, armless, rifleless Union soldier now stands picket duty on the Capitol's first floor, just a few feet from the iconic "Genius of Connecticut" statue and another of Nathan Hale, the state hero.

Unfortunately, "Forlorn Soldier" was carved from the state's Portland brownstone, which flaked away over time and through the ravages of weather and projectiles -- even bullets from the area on Airport Road, where it stood solitary sentry duty since 1938.

"I could argue that the `Forlorn Soldier' will no longer be forlorn," said Senate President Pro Tempore Donald E. Williams Jr.

Peter G. Kelly, whose family has owned the statue since taking over a local stone-cutting company in the late 1800s, said he was happy to see it inside the historic Capitol.

"At last he will be out of the elements that have torn him apart," Kelly said to a crowd of about 200 invited guests and Civil War re-enactors.

The Travelers Foundation, whose early founder, James Batterson, helped build the Capitol and whose stone-cutting firm originally carved the statue, donated about $15,000 to conserve the delicate piece. Kelly, a lawyer, accompanied by dozens of family members, contributed a matching amount for the work.

"Welcome home," said Linda Schwartz, commissioner of the state Department of Veterans' Affairs. "This soldier that you have before you reminds me of the way soldiers are returning to us today."

She warned that after coming home from U.S. conflicts abroad, today's service personnel "often remain broken for years."

Warshauer hosted the event and preferred to call the statue "The Old Soldier." He said that Roy's research had exploded myths, including one that claimed the statue had been rejected as a public monument because its right foot is positioned forward -- not in proper military posture.

Warshauer also warned that STEM -- the science, technology, engineering and math components of education -- might be overemphasized at the expense of the humanities.

"Unfortunately, it seems all too apparent that history and the social sciences are being shoved aside in our schools," he said. "This, I would argue to you, is a grave mistake."